Valentine's Day
by The Squash
Summary: Valentine's Day Special. Another outpost from fanlib, but, still, everybody at Torchwood has a commentary on Valentine's Day. Pre-Season 2. No Gwen-bashing!
1. Owen

Owen hates Valentine's Day. Really, he thinks it's just a day for people in happy relationships to torture everyone else. Even at Torchwood, which should be a bit of a respite from the atmosphere of ground-level Cardiff, he is surrounded by Happy Couples. Or at least, it feels like it.

Gwen has taken the day off to spend with Rhys. Personally, Owen has no idea how Gwen managed to finagle a day off, but he suspects it's part of Jack's determination that Gwen Cooper Will Live A Normal Life. All the spaces where Gwen is usually, counseling victims and being rational, are blaringly empty.

He doesn't have coffee. Or a boss. Well, he would have coffee, and he does have a boss, it's just that Jack and Ianto are curled up on the sofa. Owen doesn't want to disturb them. Actually, he's a bit afraid of what they might be, or, more to the point, might _not_ be wearing under the electric blanket that's covering them. Also, Tosh refuses to let him wake them. She says it's cute.

Clearly, something has gone horribly wrong in Tosh's head. One's boss, sleeping with the tea-boy, is not _cute_. Owen knows that. It means he has no morning coffee, and Tosh, who's never needed a caffeine fix in her life, apparently, wouldn't understand what it's like when there's no coffee. Honestly, Owen doesn't care if Ianto's shagging the boss, except—he hasn't any coffee.

Last year, this wasn't a problem. Ianto made tea on time, and he knew what he was going to do after work. He'd gone to the nearest bar, gotten as drunk as he could and still walk, then he'd gone back to Torchwood to spend the night on the couch. He'd bumped into Suzie, and, well, two lonely people on a night when everyone else is a Happy Couple only have two options. And he'd already gotten drunk.

He doesn't remember much of the details, but he remembers it was in Torchwood. Maybe it was on the couch, he always got a funny feeling of deja-vu when Suzie had sat on the couch. Maybe it was on her desk, maybe the dissection table. One of his favorite theories was right it the back entrance, with her back against the doorframe, where anyone could see. Not that he was an exhibitionist, but a doorway had always seemed interesting.

He looks up and around the hub, realizing that this year, he'll be more alone, since there won't be anyone to be alone with. Unless…

Tosh smiles.


	2. Gwen

Gwen loves Valentine's Day. The world is happy, and fluffy, and she can remember her normal life. She liked her life when it was normal. She knows all sorts of things again on Valentine's Day, like how to cook, and why she fell in love with Rhys.

Compared to Owen, or to Jack, or even to Ianto, Rhys was never especially attractive. He was never ugly, but, even when she can pretend she's normal, her coworkers average more general hotness.

But Rhys is reliable, and he loves her, and he's actually quite good-looking, in a blokey sort of way. She can trust him, in a way she can't trust anyone else. He's the kind of fellow she could settle down with. If what she felt for Owen after the cannibals was fireworks, Rhys is like a Yule log. It's a steadier relationship, and there isn't the tension there was with Owen, but that's a good thing. She can breathe around Rhys. She can relax.

Part of Rhys is like Ianto. Gwen has to admit, she was heartbroken when she found out about Jack and Ianto. Not that she'd ever had a chance with Jack, but Jack sleeping with Ianto seemed so much more final than Jack telling her to go home and eat lasagna with her boyfriend.

She supposes that Rhys seeming like Ianto makes sense. If she, not Owen, took over the team when Jack left, then something must be similar about her and Jack. This would explain how awkward moments are between the two of them, because they're both leaders, and both so focused, but it would also explain why Rhys feels like Ianto. Whether it's Rhys or Ianto, and she won't deny having leaned on Ianto while she lead the team, although not as sexually as Jack leans on Ianto, but not as blithely as Owen leans on Ianto, leaders do need someone to support them unconditionally. And that's why Gwen fell for Rhys. Because he trusts her.


	3. Jack

Jack is amused by Valentine's Day. By his time, at least by the time he was born into, the whole holiday had devolved into a citywide orgy. So, depending on how you looked at it, maybe it evolved.

Either way, it's sweet to be able to look back and see what it once was. Sometimes, when he's alone, all the couples going around make him want to puke. But on years like this one, he loves it.

He loves the cheap candy, the shameless commercialism, and the chocolate. Especially the chocolate. Even the contrast, which would normally upset him, of fancy chocolates and waking up under a broken electric blanket that doesn't plug in, while lying on an old couch, is amusing.

Perhaps, Jack supposes, taking Ianto on that date right before Valentine's Day wasn't such a good idea. But how was he to know Ianto would attack the food in that…particular manner. Or bring chocolate. Or eat it like that.

Well, he definitely miscalculated Ianto.

Since folk would usually be at work now, but the lights are still out, or at least the Hub is as dark as it can get with the constant glow of machinery, Jack can assume they've let him and Ianto be. On the other hand, certain sounds, which neither he nor Ianto is making at the moment, seem to suggest that Tosh and Owen have found other ways to entertain themselves. Figuring they're not in immediate danger of horrifying anyone, Jack nibbles at Ianto's earlobe to wake him up.

* * *

AN: And it all goes to hell in a handbasket...Thanks for the reviews, guys. Two more chapterlets, coming up in the next week or so.


	4. Tosh

Tosh tries to ignore Valentine's Day. Of course, hanging out in the tourist office with Owen is making it a bit hard, partly because Owen keeps hitting on her, but mostly because Ianto has recently taken the liberty of decorating the office with giant lacy hearts.

_Seasonal Decoration_. She muses. _Horrible Seasonal Decoration, but Seasonal Decoration nonetheless. _

Owen is shameless. He just threw what looks like it was once a piñata at her. He wrote across it in a large permanent marker, the fumes of which are making Tosh grow faint, "I'm bored. Let's have sex."

She slaps her palm against her forehead. "Owen, when Ianto asks us what we've done to his piñata, I _will_ tell him it's all your fault." Once, she would have jumped at the chance for a quick shag with Owen, hoping it might turn into something. But she knows Owen a bit too well for that.

He isn't worried about complications; he doesn't expect any emotion. It's a simple process, a quick fix, peg A in socket B and he's a little less lonely on a day when everyone's got someone but him. But her.

_Great. _Now she can tell the hearts are getting to her. Tosh glares at Owen and walks briskly back into the hub. She flicks on the lights, and screams.


	5. Ianto

Ianto has never been more embarrassed than on Valentine's Day. First, Tosh walks in on him and Jack, Then, Owen walks in on Tosh walking in on him and Jack. For a moment, he wonders if the pterodactyl is going to swoop in on Owen walking in on Tosh walking in on him and Jack. Finally, he does perhaps the most idiotic thing he has ever, and will ever, do. He laughs.

Valentine's Day is a mess. At least, there hasn't been any alien activity yet today. That would be just perfect. He could have a giant slug sliming in on the pterodactyl swooping in on Owen walking in on Tosh walking in on him and Jack.

Jack looks around. "For goodness sake, would you two quit screaming?" He asks Tosh and Owen. "You can have a turn next, if Ianto doesn't mind."

Ianto almost dies.

"Or not." Jack adds, before checking Ianto's pulse. "Ianto, you're fine. Quit faking it."

"I'm dying." Ianto explains. "Really, I am."

"No, you're not." Jack says.

"Yes, I am."

"Alright, you asked for it." Jack rests his hand on Ianto's chest and leans in, kissing along Ianto's jawline.

"Jack!" He yells. "There are _people_ in the room!"

"See?" Jack smiles, planting a kiss on Ianto's nose. "I told you you were fine."

"I'm leaving." Tosh announces. "This is just too uncomfortable."

"You noticed?" Owen chimes in.

"Both of you can have the day off." Jack tells them. "I think Ianto will actually die if you stay around."

"Thank god." Ianto says, as soon as Tosh and Owen have fled.

Jack reaches under the couch and pulls out a box of chocolates. "Now where were we?"


End file.
